Page 70 of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“She’s here? But how...?”

My servant has brought her to you, my queen,the man told her in the creature’s voice reborn.She is a threat to us, and you will end her.

“Turn your face from the world’s apple-blossom fragility,” she recited softly, dutifully, “and embrace this boundless night.”

But though she had waited for this moment—though she knew she would destroy Lady Sun for good—hearing her desire spoken aloud made Xifeng dizzy. Her reflection in the mirror-water looked pale and afraid. One by one, the oozing wounds reappeared on her face, a thousand times worse than she remembered... spreading across her perfect skin until she could not recognize herself. She was a horrible leper beside the image of Lady Sun’s luminous beauty.

Which of you looks like a queen?the man’s whisper taunted her.

Xifeng imagined the concubine’s heart pounding, her blood pure and rich beneath her flawless skin, and she felt faint with hunger. She could taste the woman’s lifeblood on her tongue, feel the slippery muscle of her young, fresh heart gliding against her teeth.

“Rid yourself of the Fool, whoever she may be,” she echoed Guma’s words.

Would she accept the Serpent God’s help in destroying Lady Sun, even knowing what he had done to Guma? It dawned on Xifeng that she had run out of other options. But she wasnotGuma. She would not accept the same fate. The cards promised her victory as Empress... the great destiny surely protected her from enduring Guma’s defeat.

She had harbored the Serpent God’s spirit within her for a decade,she had struggled with the dark side of her own self, and now he would reward her. In the swirling darkness, the god waited for her to choose.

So Xifeng chose.

She picked up the dagger and lay in wait by the stairs like a vengeful goddess of the old world. She slithered into the shadows, listening to the concubine’s footsteps. The dark god’s servant, whoever it was, had as good as handed Xifeng her prize. She gave a quiet, chilling laugh that did not seem to have come from her. Nothing seemed to be hers tonight—not her voice, not her words, not the slender fingers braced on the blade. Perhaps that was best. Perhaps she preferred to feel disembodied, watching from above as this new Xifeng prowled and hunted.

Lady Sun appeared, the smell of fear pungent in the air around her. There was a moment, before the woman reached the bottom step, when Xifeng’s hunger intensified with such strength she wanted to scream from it, from this need for the concubine’s blood to trickle down inside her and fill the empty places in her dark, dark soul.

Just as it had the first time Guma had made her kill, Xifeng could hear a piece of her old self pleading:Let me go. Don’t make me do this.Her limbs shuddered with her silent prayer for mercy, for her own salvation, but she heard nothing in return except the thundering of her own heart.

“Save me,” Xifeng uttered aloud, one last time, before she let the darkness take her. She knew nothing now but her uncontrollable hunger.

Lady Sun entered the cavernous space without seeing the Serpent God, who now stood beside a hulking figure robed in black, a hood concealing all but two glittering eyes. His servant.

“Hello?” Lady Sun called in a thin, high voice. Her figure on the steps was soft and appealing, the kind a man like Wei or the Emperor would want to protect. Such loveliness might even distract them fromXifeng, but she told herself soon there would be no one who could turn his eyes from her. The darkness whispered its approval.

Lady Sun’s shadow flickered across the damp, archaic stone as she stood transfixed before the waterfall. Did she look as beautiful as Xifeng in the mirror-water? Did she see in its ripples an image forever held in the depths of perfection? If only, Xifeng thought, they could remain that way forever.

And she realized, as she leapt shrieking from the shadows...shecould.

All it cost was blood magic, Xifeng mused, staring into the concubine’s terrified face as she plunged the dagger into her chest. The woman collapsed, her cry stifled in her throat, eyes gazing at Xifeng with pitiful innocence.

Even in death, she was a liar.

Xifeng watched her die, thinking of the girl she herself had been. A girl who longed to love as others did, who had prayed to the gods for guidance—and had at last been answered by one. She stood alone in the mirror-water as Lady Sun stopped moving. “I was born a woman into this world,” she said, echoing the concubine’s words. “And I will play the game, but I won’t lose.”

The dark god’s servant stepped forward, his robes smelling of dank, forgotten soil. He held out two enormous, cruel hands, on which rested a scroll, still sealed. There was something familiar in the way he bowed his head and backed away respectfully when she accepted it. She broke open the seal and unrolled the edges to find the letter Lady Sun had written to the General, detailing Xifeng’s romance with Wei.

“I am saved,” she whispered. “You stole it back before he learned the truth.”

The servant bowed again, then bent his massive bulk over LadySun’s motionless form. There was a cracking sound as he tore into her ribs with his massive bare hands, and Xifeng watched dispassionately as blood burst out, so dark it was almost black, staining the ground a brilliant cherry. He moved aside, clearing her path to the prize.

There is nothing I won’t do for you,the Serpent God told her.There is no door now that will remain closed to you. The world is yours.

A roar of triumph ripped through Xifeng’s body.Thiswas her destiny.Thiswas the fate the cards had seen: unimaginable power and beauty at the cost of lesser women’s lives. The throne of Feng Lu lay just beyond, ready and willing to be taken. She knelt beside the dead concubine and dug the dagger into her chest, feeling the tip catch slightly. And then there it was, Lady Sun’s heart—perfect, and glistening in the dim light. The hot metallic smell mingled with the incense in an intoxicating blend as Xifeng brought it to her lips.

In the waterfall, the Serpent God watched her take a bite.

The power that plunged through her made her cry out loud. She bit again and again, savoring her invincibility. The woman’s essence was stronger than wine, headier than incense. Her limbs shook from the magnificence of it. Never in the deepest throes of passion with Wei had she ever felt so alive, so physically charged. She tipped her head back, gasping as the blood gushed down her throat. Lady Sun swam in her veins, alluring and seductive, everything that could win an Emperor. But Xifeng would know how to keep him.

Eternal beauty for such a small price. A life for a life of beauty, forevermore.

Never again would the wounds haunt her.

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